Against the current: Sraffa's unpublished manuscripts and the history of economic thought *

The paper throws some new light on Sraffa's contribution, using material from his yet unpublished papers. Attention focuses on Sraffa's rediscovery of the distinct character of the classical theory of value and distribution and his refutation of the Marshallian interpretation that it is only a special case of demand and supply theory, his reformulation of the classical theory, and his criticism of the alternative neoclassical theory.     

Institutional individualism and institutional change: the search for a middle way mode of explanation

After noting the lack of enthusiasm of several well-known scholarsconcerning the adoption of both methodological holism and methodologicalindividualism in its several versions, this paper shows thatinstitutional individualism is a different mode of explanationfrom both of these and also that it is not the same thing asthe so-called Popperian programme of situational analysis. Institutionalindividualism is a mode of explanation that yields non-systemicand non-reductionist explanations at the same time as it allowsfor the incorporation into economic theories and models of themany formal and informal institutional aspects surrounding allhuman interactions, whether these interactions take place withinstable structures of legal rules and social norms or whetherthey attempt to change the said rules and norms. Finally, thepaper shows that it is possible for old institutionalists tomake institutional individualist analyses of institutional changeswhile retaining the remaining methodological assumptions ofthe school. The same is true for new institutionalists. Someexamples are offered from both camps.     

Marx,Sraffa, and Surplus: Observations Prompted by Garegnani (2018)

ABSTRACT

In a posthumously published article, Pierangelo Garegnani (2018. ‘On the Labour Theory of Value in Marx and in the Marxist Tradition.’) depicts Marx’s project in Capital as that of ‘developing systematically the theory of Ricardo and [the] implications of social conflict’ implied by Ricardo’s ‘surplus approach to value and distribution’. This paper argues to the contrary that Marx’s theory of surplus value and exploitation differs from (neo-)Ricardian surplus theory in fundamental ways, and modifies Garegnani’s simple Sraffian model to illustrate the distinctive implications of Marx’s theory.     

On Sraffa's Standard commodity: is its price invariant with respect to changes in income distribution?

In his 1960 book, Sraffa suggested using a composite commodity,which he called the ‘Standard commodity’, to solveRicardo's search for an invariable measure of value, i.e., astandard capable of isolating the price movements of any othercommodity induced by changes in income distribution. The absencein Sraffa's book of an explicit proof of the invariance propertyof this standard gave rise to many misunderstandings about itsmeaning and its role as an invariable measure of value. In orderto clear up these questions, Bellino (On Sraffa's Standard commodity,Cambridge Journal of Economics, vol. 28, 121–32, 2004)has proposed a ‘proper’ definition of an ‘invariablemeasure of value’, showing that Sraffa's Standard commoditydoes fulfil the requirements of this definition. He claims thatthe fulfilment of this property (but not the constancy of its‘nominal’ price) qualifies the Standard commodityas an invariable measure of value. In this paper, a proof ofthe invariance of the price of the Standard commodity with respectto changes in income distribution is given, and the equivalenceof this property with Bellino's definition of invariance isshown.     

On the importance of institutions and forms of organisation in Piero Sraffa's economics: the case of business cycles,money, and economic policy

Abstract

This paper is based on an investigation of the Sraffa Archives and tries to characterise Piero Sraffa's approach to business cycles and economic policy. It includes two parts. The first part of the paper shows the importance of economic institutions and social conventions in Sraffa's contribution to economics and their relation with social conflicts. The second part of the paper shows how this importance permits to understand better business cycles and economic policy but also indirectly contributes to a re-interpretation of Sraffa's contribution to economics.     

湿地经济价值的研究

湿地是一种有着较高生产力的生态系统，它可以为经济系统提供多种服务，具有重要的经济价值，湿地的经济价值来源于湿地内部生物，物理，化学组分之间的相互作用过程，其价值的大小取决于湿地规模大小，作用性质和该湿地所处的人类社会经济环境。近年来，有关湿地经济价值评估的理论与方法研究已引起了人们的广泛关注，本文系统分析了各类湿地经济价值，探讨了对湿地经济价值进行评估的理论依据。同时概括总结出了对各种湿地服务功能进行评估的方法。     

The Boom and the Slump: a Causal Account of the 1990s/2000s and the 1920s/1930s

Not all booms are alike, nor are slumps. The institutions and the shocks are never exactly the same. Yet the late 1990s boom, and its unwinding, strikingly parallel the boom of the roaring 1920s, the deep decline into the early 1930s andonly a partial rebound. Both experiences began with an investment boom, then a downturn in investment while consumption held up. Economic activity closely tracked investment. The realizations of extraordinary productivity gains were present in the problematic and incomplete recovery of the 1930s, which suggests the possibility that return to the medium‐term natural rate of unemployment may be a rather long process. I expect the rest of the decade to resemble the rest of the 1930s – a limited recovery with investment and employment below historical norms.     

不能把马克思、恩格斯局限于“劳动价值论”一元论--从方法论角度再论马克思、恩格斯价值理论本相及其它

马克思、恩格斯共识于“价值时对效用和劳动花费的衡量”，因为它与生产力与生产关系矛盾统一的唯物史观原理相适应：“价值”与“生产力”同义。但是，这种价值理论在《资本论》各卷中的展述却是按照“从抽象上升到具体”的方法，从抽象的“劳动价值论”出发，一步一步上升为“具体”的。细读之，可以发现，每向“具体”前进一步，都靠使劳动价值论与某种突现使用价值决定性的理论相结合而完成，其理论实质是使劳动价值论被纳入唯物史观框架。显然，马克思、恩格斯的价值理论不限于劳动价值论，它是由抽象劳动价值论上升为具体的宏观“效用/劳动价值论”的理论体系。西方学关于第一第三卷彼此矛盾的说法，以及一些马克思主义针对的反击，虽名有些合理之处，但也均陷入了对马克思、恩格斯劳动价值论的绝对化和形式主式误解。     

Individual utility in a context of asymmetric sensitivity to pleasure and pain: an interpretation of Bentham's felicific calculus

This paper aims at exploring, in a formal way, Bentham's statement that ‘the pleasure of gaining is not equal to the evil of losing’, which belongs to those aspects of the principle of utility left aside by Jevons‘ reconstruction. Consequently, the agent’s preference order will be viewed as depending on his initial situation, and on asymmetric sensitivity to gains and losses, relative to this situation. This leads 1) to discuss the coexistence of multiple preference orders, illustrated by Bentham's analysis of the optimal labour contract; and 2) to introduce true deliberation as a consequence of the gap between positive choice and rival assessments of utility.     

Price expectations, capital accumulation and employment: Lindahl's macroeconomics from the 1920s to the 1950s

Erik Lindahl's approach to macroeconomics focused on the non-neutralityof monetary policy (in the short and the long run) and on thedenial of the existence of natural rates of interest and unemployment.From the 1920s until his death in 1960, Lindahl advocated theuse of norms for monetary policy to fight inflation and deflationprecisely because he would not rely on the market system's returnto natural rates. Making use of hitherto unexplored material,this paper analyses the development of Lindahl's thinking aboutprice level changes, investment and employment from the 1920sto the 1950s.     

Sraffa's system: Equal rate of profits and the notion of center of gravitation

This paper argues that the condition of uniform rate of profits in Sraffa's system is not based on his implicit assumption that the system is at the ‘equilibrium’ or the center of gravitation. It is rather a logical requirement of a reproducing system of basic goods as long as prices are not imposed from outside the system. This condition holds irrespective of supplies being equal to their respective effectual demands. It conjectures that Sraffa could have arrived at this conclusion through his analysis of the Standard system. On the basis of this result, a critique of the received interpretation, led by Garegnani, of Sraffa's prices is developed.     

Assessing the burden of illness from cervical dystonia using the Toronto Western Spasmodic Torticollis Rating Scale scores and health utility: a meta-analysis of baseline patient-level clinical trial data

Purpose:

This study aimed to explore the burden of illness associated with cervical dystonia (CD), including possible demographic and humanistic correlates of baseline disease severity.

Methods:

The analysis involved the five multinational randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trials that had evaluated the efficacy and safety of Dysport® in patients with CD, including assessment using the Toronto Western Spasmodic Torticollis Rating Scale (TWSTRS). Patient-level TWSTRS scores from the individual studies were meta-analysed to estimate disease severity at baseline. One of the studies had reported Short Form-36 (SF-36) Health Survey quality-of-life measures, and these data were used to investigate whether the severity of CD was associated with humanistic outcomes, as measured by health utility. A generalized regression model was then applied to explore potential correlation between TWSTRS scores and utilities.

Results:

The estimated pooled mean baseline severity of CD in clinical trial entrants, as measured by TWSTRS score, was 43.23 (95% CI?=?39.31–47.15). In general, disease severity was significantly greater in patients aged over 40 years (compared to the reference group aged 18–30 years). However, there was no correlation between disease severity and other demographic characteristics (e.g., weight, height, gender). Higher TWSTRS scores correlated with worse health-related quality of life as perceived by patients and was reflected in health utility (R^2?=?0.133).

Conclusions:

This study was able to define TWSTRS scores in patients with CD in terms of associated utility. This approach could help in capturing the disease’s burden through measures that are more tangible than TWSTRS scores to patients, carers, clinicians, and healthcare payers.     

Assessing the impact of nocturia on health-related quality-of-life and utility: results of an observational survey in adults

Background and aim: The impact of nocturia (getting up at night to void) on health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL) is often under-estimated. This study investigated the relative burden in terms of HRQoL and utilities of nocturia in a real-world setting.

Methods: Patient data were collected from two surveys: a nocturia-specific, cross-sectional survey of physicians and their patients (DSP), and a general UK population health survey (HSFE). Utilities (EQ-5D-5L), productivity (Work Productivity and Activity Index), and the impact of nocturia symptoms (Nocturia Impact Diary and Overactive Bladder Questionnaires) were assessed against the number of voids. A robust linear regression model with propensity score weights was used to control for confounding factors in estimating utilities.

Results: Physician-recorded data were available from 8,738 patients across the US, Germany, Spain, France, and the UK; of these, 5,335 (61%) included patient-reported outcomes. In total, 6,302 controls were drawn from the two surveys and compared to 1,104 nocturia patients. Deterioration of HRQoL was associated with increasing number of night-time voids (p?p?p?Limitations: The cause of nocturia is multifactorial and the mostly elderly patients may have several concomitant diseases. The authors tried to adjust for the most common ones, but there may be diseases or unknown relationships not included.

Conclusions: Nocturia negatively affected HRQoL and patient utility. A clear effect is seen already at two voids per night. Every effort should, therefore, be made to reduce nocturia below the bother threshold of two voids per night.     

Comments on ‘some effects of taxation and collective goods in postwar U.S.A.: a tentative appraisal’

Gevers and Proost (1978) obtain a remarkable result that an optimal plan for the median income voter is also a majority rule equilibrium. This result seems at odds with the Plott conditions for a majority rule equilibrium in this two dimensional case. Here it is shown that the utility function used by Gevers and Proost has the property that a median optimal allocation is also a majority rule equilibrium because all individuals have gradients which lie along the same line. This shows that this utility function is very specific rather than as general as they claim. A more general utility function is presented which has this characteristic than the one used by Gevers and Proost.     

劳动价值论与生产要素参与价值分配问题研究

马克思劳动价值论中只承认直接从事物质生产的活劳动才创造价值,而作为社会劳动凝结物的劳动手段和劳动对象是物化劳动,只能转移价值,同时也承认非劳动生产要素在价值创造中的作用.笔者梳理了理论界对传统劳动价值一元论的新认识,认为马克思劳动价值论与生产要素参与价值分配并不矛盾.     

Values, prices of production and market prices: some more evidence from the Greek economy

This paper extends the empirical investigation of the relationbetween labour values and different price forms in the caseof the Greek economy. Subjecting the labour theory of valueto empirical tests with data from various countries helps inthe derivation of general conclusions regarding its empiricalvalidity and practical usefulness. Our results on the closenessof values and prices as measured by their absolute deviationand correlation, the shape of the wage–profit curves,the predictive power of labour values over market prices comparedwith other ‘value bases’, and the comparison offundamental Marxian categories when estimated in value and priceterms provide further support for the empirical strength ofthe labour theory of value.     

Robust correlations between prices and labour values: a comment

The paper addresses Kliman's criticisms of the observed correlationsbetween prices and labour values. It argues that the notionof spurious correlation is not relevant in this case. It examinesKliman's own simulations and shows that his statistical correctiontechniques involve dividing through by the signal to leave thenoise.     

马克思劳动价值论研讨中的核心问题

上世纪九十年代以来,围绕马克思劳动价值论展开的研讨呈现出错综复杂的局面,研讨的核心问题并不突出.笔者认为,劳动价值论研讨中的核心问题有两个,一是价格决定问题,二是价值本质问题.尽管存在具体理论和概念上的分歧,在价格决定问题上各种观点已经事实上形成了共识.当前研究的焦点和难点问题是价值本质问题.晏智杰对劳动价值论的反思及其同卫兴华展开的激烈争论已经将价值本质问题凸现出来,但全面深入的研讨尚未展开,这应当是劳动价值论研讨的发展方向.     

自然资源资产价值核算理论与实践——基于马克思主义价值论的延伸

目前,国内尚未建立成熟统一的自然资源资产价值核算体系,更没有把自然资源资产的经济价值和生态价值进行统筹核算,其根源在于缺少自然资源资产价值核算的理论依据及指导标准。鉴于此,文章首先对自然资源资产的概念进行了辨析,在此基础上对自然资源资产价值进行了分类,并分别讨论了每类自然资源资产价值核算的理论依据。然后,给出了自然资源资产价值核算的思路和具体范围。最后,提出了自然资源资产价值统筹核算的路径和建议。通过研究得出自然资源资产价值核算要明确区分不同的自然资源资产价值类型,不同的自然资源资产价值类型对应不同的价值核算理论基础,其相应的核算内容、范围和方法也不相同。